written by Thomas Prowel and Stephen Graham.
Note: Markus Stumpner forwarded these files to me from his saved
e-mail.
Thomas speaks:
As promised, here's a recap on the Bloody 110 game played by Stephen
Graham and myself over the weekend. I'll provide the American
perspective; hopefully Stephen will append a few notes from the
German side. At the end, I also have a few comments on the topics
of voluntary suppression, preliminary instructions and the Bloody
110 game itself.
*The Situation*
110 is, in some ways, very similar to GD '41. The Germans are
trying to clear a critical road on the first day of the Ardennes
offensive, but they don't have the strength to do it at start.
The Americans can hold them at bay (like the Russians in GD '41)
until the eventual arrival of overwhelming reinforcements turns
the tide.
Stephen and I had agreed to play scenario 1, the two-day, free
setup version. Unfortunately, I had secretly rolled a 1 for my
setup roll, so I would be tied very closely to the historical
setup.
*The American Plan*
This was my first time playing 110, so I was really looking forward
to the weekend and the chance to apply "Maneuver Warfare" techniques
as explained by Lee Forester in his series of TCS articles. I
started by trying to identify the "centers of gravity."
First came the victory conditions -- 110 is unusual in that both
sides have separate victory conditions. U.S. conditions are hinged
on the control of villages, while the Germans are required to
clear the road *and* do a lot of damage to the Americans. In
order to claim an uncontested victory, I had to both score 12
VPs and hold off the Germans until 1220 Dec. 17.
The villages seemed like an easy task -- holding Marnach, Reuler
and Clervaux alone at the end of the first day scored the magic
12, plus there were lots more points to be had up north. Also
critical is the fact that the village control award is a kind
of musical chairs arrangement -- you want to be sitting only
when the music stops. Control checks are made twice during the
game, at the end of each day. I could leave a village abandoned
all through the day, zip a unit there under cover of darkness,
and still be able claim the award. This fit in very nicely with
MW doctrine -- since Stephen also had to destroy my units, I
planned to "dance like a butterfly and sting like a bee", running
when pressed and then counterattacking on favorable terms --
and it also fit in with one of the U.S. advantages in the game,
truck mobility.
Of course, theory is always easier than practice. Taking a geographic
look at the map, the idealized MW run & gun only works well on
the northern map, where there's a good road net and lots of VP
villages. The terrain on the south map is much more constricted,
especially around Marnach; beyond the critical highway, the road
net sucks. The south map is where most of my units start; up
north I had little beyond unprotected artillery batteries, and
I was terrified that Stephen would start his attack up there
to wipe those out.
So I modified my plan: run up north if attacked, but fight like
hell in the south. Because my restricted setup didn't allow me
to cover my open north flank very well, I started two op sheets
with attack orders. I sent the 447 AAA (six flak-gun armed halftracks)
north toward Hupperdange with alternate orders to Fischbach,
figuring they could at least delay the poorly armed infantry
the Germans start with until I got some tank reinforcements if
that's where Stephen was going to operate. And I also ordered
C/1/110 to attack the woods south of Marnach, hoping that if I
could threaten the highway, Stephen might be distracted from
his rampages up north.
*The Game*
As it turned out (perhaps in an attempt to use reverse psychology
on me), Stephen didn't open with an attack in the north, but
with a concerted effort on Marnach and the highway. We'd basically
fallen into playing the historical battle even using the free
setup!
The opening battle for Marnach was short but fierce. Stephen ordered
38 Pios to surround the town from the north, and 2/304 PG to
cover it from the south -- right where C/1/110 was to go. Upon
contact with the enemy, I failed C/1/110 and sent them back,
since I was far outnumbered, but their contribution was enough
to delay the Germans and keep the roads to Marnach open so that
units from 1/110's weapons company could arrive. Meanwhile, 38
Pio was all but destroyed in American artillery barrages and
my marauding AA halftracks (ordered south after finding no Germans
up north). A string of good American reinforcement die rolls
brought on three platooons of Shermans in Heinerscheid and Clervaux.
I set them up in as threatening a manner as I could while waiting
for op sheets to implement.
At this point Stephen (1100) failed his own attack and ordered
his troops back to withdraw. I had pursuit op sheets drawn up
for the two tank platoons of B/CCR, but for the life of me, I
couldn't get them to implement. That was all the fighting for
the first day -- Stephen got the bridge up and started bringing
on a wave of reinforcments, I ordered C/1/110 to dig in between
Marnach and Clervaux, and sent a platoon of Shermans and the
AA halftracks to Marnach. I got lucky with mist weather at the
end of the day and used some P-47s to bag a few tanks. When the
day ended, I had 15 VPs and a minor victory. Now all I had to
do was delay Stephen until noon, and I was fairly confident I
could do that.
During the night, more reinforcements arrived for me -- a company
of infantry from 2/110 and a company of Stuarts. I put the Stuarts
in reserve, waiting for the right moment to use these underarmed
tanks. And E/2/110 I thought would make a good combined-arms
attack force paired with B/CCR, still sitting in Heinerscheid
looking for something to do. I drew up a new op sheet with preliminary
instructions to gather these units in Grindhausen in preparation
for a dawn attack to relieve pressure on Marnach.
While I was making these moves, Stephen was receiving reinforcements
of his own by the truckload. He sent many of these units to Fischbach,
between Grindhausen and Marnach, so all of a sudden B/CCR's attack
wasn't looking like such a good prospect. This caused me to draw
up a new op sheet for B/CCR. And he sent the Recon Bn of 2/2
Pz through the woods south of Marnach, threatening both that
town and my artillery battery at Munshausen.
Dawn opened and B/CCR still hadn't accepted its new orders to
move them out of the way of the Germans (this unit really did
me no favors with op sheet rolls during the whole game). So,
I launched B/CCR's misguided attack anyway, hoping to make the
best of a bad situation by seizing the initiative. It immediately
ran into trouble, as Stephen had ordered his own attack to take
Grindhausen. When my attack stalled, I executed failure instructions,
which were to retreat to ... Grindhausen, leaving them still
right in harm's way. They became unassigned units. I couldn't
justify leaving them on their attack op sheets, and because I
needed a free op sheet elsewhere (the Americans are only allowed
4!), I stopped rolling for their new op sheet to implement (as
they were basically shot up anyway). The lack of SFAs from this
force really took its toll -- Meat Grinderhausen (as we started
calling it) was reduced within the hour I could fight with these
unassigned units and eliminated to a man. Grindhausen did hold
out long enough for me to abandon Heinerscheid and Hupperdange,
bringing most of A/1/110 and an artillery battery within my southern
perimeter. But all of a sudden, I wasn't sure if I could hold
Stephen until noon after all -- he had eliminated a major chunk
of my forces in an hour, and he was pressing Marnach hard.
The place where I needed my free op sheet, though, was Munshausen,
where Stephen's recon bn had popped out of the woods to threaten
my tank destroyer battalion and a battery. This was the perfect
place to use the Stuarts in a surgical strike -- the recon troops
were mostly infantry, only a few piddly Gw38s in their way. I
used a few overruns to eliminate a company, and Stephen's attack
there was effectively stymied. After I declared mission success,
I pulled the Stuarts north and west of Munshausen and waited
for a new hasty defense op sheet -- this one sending them to
join C/1/110 in the woods west of Marnach -- to implement.
Meanwhile, Stephen was reducing Marnach block by block. I think
he was a little overcautious in doing so; after a few of my artillery
rounds caused him some discomfort, he became content to rain
artillery on my head and stay away from closing in. He eventually
cleared the town, but not until 1100! The last American unit
in town was a lone AT gun crewed by Congressional Medal of Honor
winners all; this unit alone bought 40 precious minutes for the
American cause.
Once Marnach and Grindhausen were reduced, I was in good position
to block Stephen's next round of attacks. His northern wing had
run into two companies of Shermans south of Urspelt. They were
placed behind a hedge, and some hot dice and a double turn allowed
me to destroy an incredible number of Stug IIIs and Panzers.
I had hoped to use these Shermans offensively, sidestepping his
attack via a minor road at Feschberfurt, but their attack op
sheet wouldn't implement and the hasty defense seemed to be working
just fine.
In the south, his Recon battalion re-emerged from the woods, this
time with Panzer support from the northeast (freed from the Marnach
chokepoint). He reduced Munshausen and caught a few of my Stuarts
without op sheets (more bad implement die rolls -- I missed three
chances in a row to roll 7s or higher!). But that still left
C/1/110 in prep defense blocking the highway west of Marnach,
and Clervaux itself to be reduced. When we stopped play at 1500,
the road still hadn't been opened. Stephen at this point was
looking at a major defeat, so a decision had clearly been reached.
We debated whether or not he could have cleared the road by the
end of the game to prevent a massive defeat; myself, I think at
this point Stephen's play wasn't as sharp as it could have been
-- we'd been playing for the better part of three days (with
allowances to see Mars Attacks! and spending some overtime at
the office) and mental fatigue was affecting both of us. And
by 1100 when it was clear he'd lost, he didn't push as hard as
he could have, which explains why the road was still blocked
at 1500. Meanwhile, I could afford to make mistakes because the
issue for me wasn't in doubt -- I'd already won.
Final outcome: a major American victory! While I didn't get to
use MW as much as I wanted (aside from the Stuarts, my more clever
attack op sheets just wouldn't implement; instead, tenacious
defense won the day for me), I had a great time playing.
*Voluntary Suppression*
This wasn't a huge feature of our game, but it worked fine. Stephen
never used it. I never voluntarily went to ground during my turn,
so the SFA at 1/2 issue didn't came up, but I did choose a few
times to leave my units suppressed in the rally phase, particularly
when they were sitting in the middle of Stephen's battalion artillery
fires. It was most helpful with that last AT gun in Marnach!
*Preliminary Instructions*
We tried Lee's suggestion of rolling against Prep Ratings to stop
overuse of these, and, well, I don't think it helped any. The
best example was my joining B/CCR and E/2/110. B/CCR was in Heinerscheid,
E/2/110 was in Clervaux, and preliminary instructions sent both
to Grindhausen between them, about three miles from either point.
This took no time at all, because my prep rating was 3 or so.
Once they got there, I was already wanting to throw away their
unimplemented op sheet, given the number of Nazis sitting in
Fischbach. That would have meant that I would have gotten a Move
op sheet on the cheap -- not right at all!
In thinking about what to do to prevent prelim instruction abuse,
it occured to me that the best course of action was this: Just
throw it away! Using Dean's advice to keep things simple, I'd
suggest removing the prelim instruction rule entirely. That's
much easier than inventing house rules to prevent their abuse.
Make an op sheet start when you make the implementation roll
-- until then, you don't do anything with it. Much easier. What's
the design idea behind prelims anyway, Dean?
*Bloody 110: The Game*
Like I said, this was the first time I'd played it -- and I LOVED
it. We'd kind of shyed away from it before -- we were graphic
snobs (it's not as pretty as the new games), and it seemed unbalanced
(ONE U.S. battalion vs. an ENTIRE German Panzer division???)
-- but this one playthrough convinced me that it might be the
very best of the TCS games. A good mixture of interesting tanks
and infantry (unlike say, Leros). Lots of manuever room (unlike
say, GD '40). Not overwhelming in terms of counters (unlike Omaha
or Black Wednesday). Those are all games I like, but this one
may be better. It works fine with the 3.1 rules. I know Dean has
cooled on reprints, but 110 is hard to find and I'd love to see
a new edition.
My initial impression on balance is that the Amis have the easier
road, since they can get 12 VPs pretty easy. Stephen and I agreed
that reducing Marnach on the first day isn't a great German option
(when there's soft & chewy artillery batteries and support units
up north to be had), but to not take that route hands Marnach,
Clervaux and Reuler -- and 12 VPs -- to the Americans. But a
major balance fix isn't necessary; for competitive play, have
each side bid a number of VPs to be the Americans and take it
away from there!
All regards,
Thomas Prowell
tprowell@evansgroup.com
Stephen speaks:
>*The Situation*
>110 is, in some ways, very similar to GD '41. The Germans are
trying to
>clear a critical road on the first day of the Ardennes offensive,
but
>they don't have the strength to do it at start. The Americans
can hold
>them at bay (like the Russians in GD '41) until the eventual
arrival of
>overwhelming reinforcements turns the tide.
The key frustration for the Germans is the *slow* trickle of reinforcements.
For those of you who don't have Bloody 110, the Germans start
out with 15 platoons of infantry on the map. No heavy weapons
or vehicles; those all enter via reinforcements. And reinforcing
is an iffy business. You can ferry infantry and man-portable heavy
weapons across the river that's just off map, but that capacity
is quite limited. You get either the heavy weapons or infantry
of a single battalion per hour, provided you roll a 5 or 6. Everything
else has to wait for a bridge to be built, which depends on a
die roll each hour turn.
What the Germans have going for them early on is their divisiona
lartillery: 5 batteries of 105s and 3 of 150s. But ammo is limited
- this ISthe 1944 German army, after all.
>First came the victory conditions -- 110 is unusual in that both
sides
>have separate victory conditions. U.S. conditions are hinged
on the
>control of villages, while the Germans are required to clear
the road
>*and* do a lot of damage to the Americans.
When I looked at the victory conditions, my task seemed fairly
clear. Clear the main road and all else will follow. As Thomas
noted, the big VP villages for the Amis are on the main road.
Once I had Marnach, I could push on to victory.
>Of course, theory is always easier than practice. Taking a geographic
>look at the map, the idealized MW run & gun only works well on
the
>northern map, where there's a good road net and lots of VP villages.
The
>terrain on the south map is much more constricted, especially
around
>Marnach; beyond the critical highway, the road net sucks. The
south map
>is where most of my units start; up north I had little beyond
unprotected
>artillery batteries, and I was terrified that Stephen would start
his
>attack up there to wipe those out.
And I did have some plans to that effect. The difficulty lies
in the instructions for the German starting forces: 2/304 Panzergrenadier
and two companies of 38 Pioneer. They're to take Marnach and isolate
the main road while reinforcements pour onto the map. So I wrote
my initial op sheets to that effect.
The major variable for the Germans is the order in which you get
reinforcements. Since the ferry can start operating on the first
turn of the game, I decided to rely on that for early reinforcements.
First up were the heavy weapons for 2/304 PG, since I wanted its
mortars and AT guns early. Then I planned on bringing on 1/304
PG and its heavy weapons onto the north map. Everything else would
depend on the bridge. I put the bridge at Dasburg South #2, which
would let me enter reinforcements in the Southeast corner of the
game map. Big mistake. Marnach would prove a major bottleneck,
restricting my maneuver room. When I do this again, I'd probably
choose either Dasburg North, which gets you on the map in the
Northeast corner or Gemund North, which lets you enter along the
southern map edge. That had tempted me during planning, but has
a potential stumbling block. You can't use that entrance until
a town south of the map is cleared, dependent on a die roll.
>*The Game*
>As it turned out (perhaps in an attempt to use reverse psychology
on me),
>Stephen didn't open with an attack in the north, but with a concerted
>effort on Marnach and the highway. We'd basically fallen into
playing the
>historical battle even using the free setup!
>
>The opening battle for Marnach was short but fierce. Stephen
ordered 38
>Pios to surround the town from the north, and 2/304 PG to cover
it from
>the south -- right where C/1/110 was to go. Upon contact with
the enemy,
>I failed C/1/110 and sent them back, since I was far outnumbered,
but
>their contribution was enough to delay the Germans and keep the
roads to
>Marnach open so that units from 1/110's weapons company could
arrive.
>Meanwhile, 38 Pio was all but destroyed in American artillery
barrages
>and my marauding AA halftracks (ordered south after finding no
Germans up
>north). A string of good American reinforcement die rolls brought
on
>three platooons of Shermans in Heinerscheid and Clervaux. I set
them up
>in as threatening a manner as I could while waiting for op sheets
to
>implement.
As Thomas notes, my early attempt to take Marnach got hammered.
38 Pio was ravaged and was out for the rest of the game. 2/304
was getting shot up as well. There was a lot of Light Fog early
in the day, which let Thomas shoot up my troops before they could
get into Marnach. I was praying for Heavy Fog, which would cut
visibility to 3 hexes. Meanwhile, I watched platoon after platoon
of Shermans enter the map.
>At this point Stephen (1100) failed his own attack and ordered
his troops
>back to withdraw.
By this point, I realized that the Americans outnumbered me. I'd
gotten 2/304's heavy weapons across the river, but that was it.
(I'd get 1/304 and its heavy weapons at 1200 and 1300, but I couldn't
bet on that.)
>That was all the fighting for the first day -- Stephen got the
>bridge up and started bringing on a wave of reinforcments, I
ordered
>C/1/110 to dig in between Marnach and Clervaux, and sent a platoon
of
>Shermans and the AA halftracks to Marnach. I got lucky with mist
weather
>at the end of the day and used some P-47s to bag a few tanks.
When the
>day ended, I had 15 VPs and a minor victory. Now all I had to
do was
>delay Stephen until noon, and I was fairly confident I could
do that.
In the meantime, the bridge opened up at 1300 and I got my first
reinforcements across at 1420 - two companies of Panthers. Meanwhile
1/304 PG entered the map and took the unoccupied town of Fischbach.
Then I entered op sheet hell. Nothing would implement. And since
I didn't have Marnach, most of my forces were trapped in a corner
of the map.
>While I was making these moves, Stephen was receiving reinforcements
of
>his own by the truckload. He sent many of these units to Fischbach,
>between Grindhausen and Marnach, so all of a sudden B/CCR's attack
wasn't
>looking like such a good prospect. This caused me to draw up
a new op
>sheet for B/CCR. And he sent the Recon Bn of 2/2 Pz through the
woods
>south of Marnach, threatening both that town and my artillery
battery at
>Munshausen.
Overnight, my plans firmed up and op sheets began to implement.
I sent 2/304 PG and a battalion of Stug III assault guns to Fischbach
to join 1/304 in clearing the northern map. They had to travel
cross-country because of Thomas's units in Marnach, but by 0500
I was moving on Grindhausen.
Meanwhile, the entirety of 2 PG and the Panthers were assigned
to take Marnach. They wouldn't get started until daybreak, which
really put the time pressure on. As Thomas mentioned, 2 Pz Recon
spent the night getting into position to threaten Munshausen and
hopefully tie down his forces there.
>Dawn opened and B/CCR still hadn't accepted its new orders to
move them
>out of the way of the Germans (this unit really did me no favors
with op
>sheet rolls during the whole game). So, I launched B/CCR's misguided
>attack anyway, hoping to make the best of a bad situation by
seizing the
>initiative. It immediately ran into trouble, as Stephen had ordered
his
>own attack to take Grindhausen. When my attack stalled, I executed
>failure instructions, which were to retreat to ... Grindhausen,
leaving
>them still right in harm's way. They became unassigned units.
I couldn't
>justify leaving them on their attack op sheets, and because I
needed a
>free op sheet elsewhere (the Americans are only allowed 4!),
I stopped
>rolling for their new op sheet to implement (as they were basically
shot
>up anyway). The lack of SFAs from this force really took its
toll -- Meat
>Grinderhausen (as we started calling it) was reduced within the
hour I
>could fight with these unassigned units and eliminated to a man.
>Grindhausen did hold out long enough for me to abandon Heinerscheid
and
>Hupperdange, bringing most of A/1/110 and an artillery battery
within my
>southern perimeter. But all of a sudden, I wasn't sure if I could
hold
>Stephen until noon after all -- he had eliminated a major chunk
of my
>forces in an hour, and he was pressing Marnach hard.
Once Grindhausen fell, I was able to swing 2/304 and the Stugs
around to take Urspelt and then drive south to Reuler. Unfortunately,
Stugs aren't the greatest armored vehicle, and the half company
of Shermans in the way and some timely artillery caused problems.
Then 1/304 decided to sit on its hands in Hupperdange.
>The place where I needed my free op sheet, though, was Munshausen,
where
>Stephen's recon bn had popped out of the woods to threaten my
tank
>destroyer battalion and a battery. This was the perfect place
to use the
>Stuarts in a surgical strike -- the recon troops were mostly
infantry,
>only a few piddly Gw38s in their way. I used a few overruns to
eliminate
>a company, and Stephen's attack there was effectively stymied.
After I
>declared mission success, I pulled the Stuarts north and west
of
>Munshausen and waited for a new hasty defense op sheet -- this
one
>sending them to join C/1/110 in the woods west of Marnach --
to
>implement.
>
>Meanwhile, Stephen was reducing Marnach block by block. I think
he was a
>little overcautious in doing so; after a few of my artillery
rounds
>caused him some discomfort, he became content to rain artillery
on my
>head and stay away from closing in. He eventually cleared the
town, but
>not until 1100! The last American unit in town was a lone AT
gun crewed
>by Congressional Medal of Honor winners all; this unit alone
bought 40
>precious minutes for the American cause.
I'd agree about my being overcautious. I had infantry to spend
and I should have. But I'd gotten pounded in Marnach once and
I was losing Panthers at a goodly clip, probably though faulty
tactics. Meanwhile, the prospect of charging a couple of Shermans
and an Ami infantry platoon just didn't look appealing to my infantry.
>Once Marnach and Grindhausen were reduced, I was in good position
to
>block Stephen's next round of attacks. His northern wing had
run into two
>companies of Shermans south of Urspelt. They were placed behind
a hedge,
>and some hot dice and a double turn allowed me to destroy an
incredible
>number of Stug IIIs and Panzers. I had hoped to use these Shermans
>offensively, sidestepping his attack via a minor road at Feschberfurt,
>but their attack op sheet wouldn't implement and the hasty defense
seemed
>to be working just fine.
>
>In the south, his Recon battalion re-emerged from the woods,
this time
>with Panzer support from the northeast (freed from the Marnach
>chokepoint). He reduced Munshausen and caught a few of my Stuarts
without
>op sheets (more bad implement die rolls -- I missed three chances
in a
>row to roll 7s or higher!). But that still left C/1/110 in prep
defense
>blocking the highway west of Marnach, and Clervaux itself to
be reduced.
>When we stopped play at 1500, the road still hadn't been opened.
Stephen
>at this point was looking at a major defeat, so a decision had
clearly
>been reached. We debated whether or not he could have cleared
the road by
>the end of the game to prevent a massive defeat; myself, I think
at this
>point Stephen's play wasn't as sharp as it could have been --
we'd been
>playing for the better part of three days (with allowances to
see Mars
>Attacks! and spending some overtime at the office) and mental
fatigue was
>affecting both of us. And by 1100 when it was clear he'd lost,
he didn't
>push as hard as he could have, which explains why the road was
still
>blocked at 1500. Meanwhile, I could afford to make mistakes because
the
>issue for me wasn't in doubt -- I'd already won.
As Thomas mentioned, clearing Marnach took too long. Bad force
allocation on my part. I kept two PG battalions tied up there
and didn't use my second battalion of tanks as effectively as
I could have. While Marnach was being reduced, I could have swung
two battalions around it and driven towards Clervaux. That would
have put a lot more pressure on Thomas's troops.
>Final outcome: a major American victory! While I didn't get to
use MW as
>much as I wanted (aside from the Stuarts, my more clever attack
op sheets
>just wouldn't implement; instead, tenacious defense won the day
for me),
>I had a great time playing.
As did I, despite losing. I'm looking forward to trying B110 again,
as either side.
A couple of notes about possible German plans. As Thomas mentioned
in an earlier post, planning the initial German op sheet(s) can
be tough, since you don't know where the Americans can be. I went
for a prosaic plan of encircling Marnach from the east. But there's
no reason you coudn't start your troops between Marnach and Fischbach
and drive south to isolate Marnach. Just be cautious if the Amis
get useful reinforcements. Shermans vs. unsupported infantry ain't
much fun.
>*Voluntary Suppression*
>This wasn't a huge feature of our game, but it worked fine. Stephen
never
>used it. I never voluntarily went to ground during my turn, so
the SFA at
>1/2 issue didn't came up, but I did choose a few times to leave
my units
>suppressed in the rally phase, particularly when they were sitting
in the
>middle of Stephen's battalion artillery fires. It was most helpful
with
>that last AT gun in Marnach!
Voluntary suppression just didn't seem to make sense most of the
time. What I wanted was troops in good positions to call down
artillery. It might have helped in a couple of cases where troops
got caught in the open, but otherwise not.
Stephen Graham
>Did you guys (Thomas and Steve) use reserve Op Sheets at all?
Or
>alternates? Both are REAL handy in fluid situations. Of course,
>you still have to roll to implement those, and it sounds like
>you were both cursed with poor die rolling.
I believe Thomas used reserves a couple of times, but was limited
by available forces. I didn't use either, probably because of
my brute-force approach.
As for poor die-rolling, I think we averaged out pretty well.
Or at least I did. Thomas did have a couple of occasions where
he couldn't roll to save his life.
We were both pretty frustrated at moments, but that's the strength
of TCS. My troops just didn't really want to go back into Marnach
or attack during the night. Sounds pretty realistic.
Stephen Graham
graham@ee.washington.edu
graham@cs.washington.edu
Thomas speaks:
>Great to hear about the game - only in the TCS can you get the
>sort of things happening that you had. I love it! But we all
know
>that already :-)
>
>Did you guys (Thomas and Steve) use reserve Op Sheets at all?
Or
>alternates? Both are REAL handy in fluid situations. Of course,
>you still have to roll to implement those, and it sounds like
>you were both cursed with poor die rolling.
I kept the 630 TD Bn in a reserve op sheet throughout the first
day; when I finally popped it, it was to defend the artillery
battery in Munshausen. Not a great use for AT guns (against infantry
and Gw38s), but it's all I had until the Stuarts arrived. I also
used reserves for those same Stuarts; that made a lot of sense
as it allowed me to be very picky about where I could use those
so-called "tanks."
As for alternates, I try to always include them in my attack op
sheet -- you're right Lee, they really do open up your options.
Unfortunately in play, I didn't get to use them. I had an alternate
route set up for my AA halftracks in their early patrols up north,
but there were no Germans there to hunt down. And I used them
in my later planned counterattacks -- generally one route would
be to relieve Marnach, and the other would be to send infantry
through the woods to Roder. These were the op sheets that I couldn't
get to implement.
I also don't want to make *too* much of my op sheet rolls, or
any dice rolls, for that matter. Overall, I'd say I had average
luck. Yeah, some of my attack op sheets wouldn't implement, but
then I also got lucky with my AA halftracks on the first day
to beat up 38 Pio, and again on the second day when I got my
Shermans in hasty defense between Urspelt and Reuler just in
time. I had good reinforcement die rolls on the first day and
lousy ones on the second day. I had phenomenal luck with weather,
getting lucky breaks on visibility shifts and two hours of mist
weather and P-47s at the end of each (!) day, but that was balanced
out by my so-so combat die rolls -- I never even caused a Bn
Morale result on Stephen's troops. Overall, my die rolls balanced
out, just like they're supposed to ;-)
All regards,
Thomas Prowell
tprowell@evansgroup.com
>>What's the design idea behind prelims anyway, Dean?
>
>They serve to allow units to _pull back_ to assembly areas in
order to begin
>preparing for a new mission. In real life these orders would
be welcomed as
>it would be a chance to get out of the front line (and into something
else),
>get some better rest and chow, so they should be easy to accept.
>Problem is, players rarely (if ever) use them for their intended
_to the
>rear_ movement purpose, they always seem to be used as a quick
way to the
>defensive position or line of departure for an attack.
Okay, the "to the rear" explanation really helps clarify your
intent, Dean. At the time I wrote the op sheet, the convergence
in Grindhausen seemed within the scope of the rules ("a common
assembly area"); it wasn't until after that I thought "Hmm, maybe
I've taken this too far." RC has an excellent point in his other
post that prelims really should be for very limited movements;
I wonder if the 5 hex operating radius for unassigned units is
enough for this? If so, then we could still go about expunging
the prelim rule entirely.
Your explanation brings up another question/observation. It appears
that new failure instructions (if your old one is blocked) take
no time to execute, similar to prelims. Maybe all that's needed
is a general case that all rearward movements (prelims, new failures)
may be implemented immediately. But if you're going to operate
in an area where the enemy is active -- or might be -- you don't
get to move without an implemented op sheet.
>PS-- Great play by play of one of my favorite games...I always
loved Bloody
>110 and had a blast playing it (even with the 1.0 rules). Now
you have me
>itching to see what it is like with 3.1, something I've never
had the chance
>to do. Like I have to time to do _that_...thanks a lot :-(
Well, putting it on the reprint schedule and doing a new edition
*would* give you the chance to playtest it . . . ;-)
All regards,
Thomas Prowell
tprowell@evansgroup.com